It is almost 900 years before the
birth of Christ. The once unified
Kingdom of Israel (as we read about under the leadership of David and Solomon)
has been divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom
of Judah. The northern kingdom is ruled
by a man named Ahab. His rule is
identified by the ways that God is pushed to the side, or used so that
political initiatives, such as the existence of the kingdom, can be
achieved. Idol worship is encouraged and
even sanctioned at a state level.
This is the environment that exists when the prophet Elijah emerges, seemingly from out of nowhere. His message to Ahab is simple: ‘because of your actions, the Lord has brought a drought, a drought that only God can end.’ Not surprisingly, this message is not well received by Ahab, especially after the drought begins to extend from days, to weeks, to years. He sends the military out to bring Elijah to the palace so that some sort of ‘resolution’ might be created.
God is not interested in ‘resolution’. God is longing to us to recognize our dependence on Him. This is the life that Elijah lives out as God sends him to a territory beyond the control of Ahab where there he learns to rely totally upon the Divine. This is where our story picks up.
What we are reminded of is that power, true power, is from God and God alone. It may come through very human hands, but true power is not of human origins. The scripture reads this way.
I Kings 17:8-16
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Galatians 1:11-24
Our second passage continues the theme that was started with Elijah as Paul declares, in no uncertain terms, that what is proclaimed through him, is of God and God alone. The message of life, regardless of the voice that you may hear it through is from God. These words remind us that truth is from God. Paul realized this and needed those who came to believe in God through him to understand just how true it is. Paul is declaring to God be the glory, forever and ever.
Galatians 1:11-24
11 For I want you to know, brothers and
sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12
for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I
received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas (Peter) and stayed with him fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. 20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22 and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
I’m not sure how it will be written in the history books of this congregation but from my perspective, this has been a rather big week in the context of the last 136 years. Yes, there is the installation service that will be held this afternoon, and in and of itself, that is one of those occasions that allows a congregation to celebrate many of the ways that God is working in and through them.
However, what has made this week particularly memorable is that two of our own, Dawn Alpaugh and Chris Hietkamp, were examined by the Classis (which is the regional group of Reformed churches) in regards to their Seminary studies as they continue along the path to ministry that they have both been Called to. These were Dawn’s middler exams (which are given at the conclusion of every year of study, and Chris’ ordination exams (which are given when a student has completed their course work at seminary). And not only were they examined, but the presence of God, via the movement of the Holy Spirit, was there to behold, if you were willing to see with eyes of faith.
To begin with, both of them were nervous which is what you’d expect, but both of them were also extremely well prepared. Dawn’s three exams were first, out in the Fellowship Hall, and she was answering question after question, and even when she did hit a little bit of a speed bump (like when she was asked to recite the Hebrew alphabet) she did so with a sense of humor and grace that was wonderful to watch. That and Hebrew is brutal: anybody who is able to make it through that course should be given some sort of a gold star in heaven – not that I have any bitterness toward foreign languages, I’m just saying! But she did great. Once the exams were finished, the lead examiner asked the students to sit in the parlor and wait while the assembled talked about how they did.
The wait took all of two and a half minutes and then I went back to the parlor and asked Dawn and her classmates to come on out. She literally said, “well that didn’t take long: I haven’t even gotten settled yet.” Dawn had all of her examinations sustained: Dawn passed with flying colors.
Chris’ exams came next and they were held here in the sanctuary. The first three exams went by swimmingly. It was the fourth exam, that of theology, was where Chris started to hit his particular speed bumps. It wasn’t that he said anything wrong, but ministers, being as they can be sometimes, wanted to make sure they understood what Chris believed. He was peppered with question after question regarding the 5 points of Calvinism, justification, sanctification, predestination and double predestination. I was getting tense and I was just sitting in the pews. Chris did marvelously, but it was a long exam, and again the Classis wanted to make sure that Chris was as prepared for the ministry as he could be. So there was a good long conversation about him. It was in the midst of that conversation that God appeared in two amazing ways.
The first way was that Chris did not
wait alone. Dawn and her classmate Pam,
who were already completely done with all of their examinations had stayed. They had shown up at 3 PM and there they
were, as the time was pushing on toward 9, sitting. In that simple act, God was working in and
through Dawn and Pam so that Chris could be reminded of the truth that he is
not alone. God worked through Chris’ classmates
in an amazing way.
The other way that God appeared was
how impassionedly people spoke on behalf of Chris, in particular, two of the
Elders from Willow Grove, two men who have clearly received so much from God
through Chris’ words and presence. They
did not stand, and they did not raise their voices, and yet the power with
which they spoke allowed everyone in the room to recognize the countless ways
that God has moved in and through Chris to minister to the people of that
community. When they finished speaking,
the conversation in the space changed from picking apart what Chris said and
didn’t say, to the fact that Chris has been and will continue to be a blessing
to the Church of Jesus Christ. God spoke
through them. I don’t know if they
recognized it while it was happening but the fact that something of God was
articulated through their lips, something that was not of human origin, from my
perspective, could not be denied.
Our passages this morning remind us
of that truth as well: the God whom we worship is able to work in and through
the most unexpected, the frailest, and even the most broken and sinful of human
vessels. Paul does a wonderful job of
reminding us of this fact. Paul was
someone who persecuted the church. Paul
was someone who decried the Gospel of Jesus Christ as nothing more then a
fabrication of the weak and delusional.
Paul was someone who was enemy number 1, and yet, what does he
become?
He becomes the avenue through which
the message of Jesus Christ, the message of life is able to head out into the
non-Jewish world. That is why he says,
“the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not
receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it (through
a revelation)”. God worked in and
through Paul, and Paul was as broken, as sinful, as separated from God, as
anyone. Paul doesn’t view himself as
being worthy of this responsibility.
Instead, he gives the glory to God, because what has been done through
him is not of human origins: it is of God.
So often, when it comes to doing the work of God in the world, we think of ourselves as being less then worthy, less then fully equipped. And to be perfectly candid, if it was just us, then that would be the case.
But it’s not the case. God is able to work through each and everyone of us. I can’t tell you how strange it is for people to come up to me as a preacher and thank me for hearing “the message that they needed to hear”. I thank them, but so often I reply with, “don’t thank me! Thank God! What you have heard may have come through me, but it was of God!”
The miraculous work that was done through Elijah was not of Elijah: it was of God. The message that Paul was able to proclaim was not of Paul: it was of God. The presence and words that were offered by Chris’ classmates and the Elders of the church he serves were not of them: they were of God.
God can work in and through each one of us as well, if we are willing to take that step out in faith and humility and say, “God, use me so that Your care, love, and compassion might be felt, so that Your truth might be heard.”
So often, we think to ourselves when people are in times of stress and need, and say, “I don’t know what I could do to help. I wouldn’t even know what to say.” That’s okay. Just be there and pray that God might be able to work in and through you in whatever way is needed. Remember, it’s not of human origins: it’s of God. Chris needed someone to be with him, and his classmates were open to how God was working so as to provide that presence. It happens all the time, sometimes without us even knowing it, but God is still able to reach out into the world through each and everyone of us.
One last story to illustrate the fact that God is able to work through us: I put my profile out to be reviewed by search committees in spring of last year. No one called until the summer. One of those conversations was going really well. We had talked several times, met in person, and by early fall they wanted to hear me preach in person. However, by that point, we weren’t feeling called to serve in that place, so I said no. Jen and I literally had the, ‘so what do we do now’ conversation. We ended that conversation by saying that we’d trust in God to open and/or close whatever door needed to be open or closed.
I withdrew my name from consideration at that particular church on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, on the same day, I received communication from Henry regarding Three Bridges interest in the ministry that is being done through me (what do you think my face looked like when I read that note?!). You may call that happenstance: through the eyes of faith, I see that communication as God moving through Henry (and you thought you were just following up with what the search committee had decided!).
God is at work, and God is at work in each and every one of us. Trust in that truth and know, regardless of how ill equipped you may feel, know that God will supply you with all that you need.
After Sermon Prayer
Gracious Lord, we hear it in the scriptures and we experience it in our lives, You are at work, and You are at work in and through each one of us. God, help us to recognize this truth so that we might be as open to the movement of Your Spirit as possible, so that Your Will might be done in the here and now. Lord, let it be so. Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.